Cheesecake Profiteroles

Crisp, Golden Profiteroles filled with an easy No-bake Vanilla Cheesecake, topped with a delicious White Chocolate Ganache. Christmas is quickly approaching, so why not impress your family and friends with a cheesy twist on the ultimate sharing pud!

I cannot believe Christmas is in less than two weeks! This year I started my Christmas shopping in November, which is unheard of. In previous years I’ve been known to do it the week running up to the big day (even Christmas Eve – yes I was THAT person). However, times have changed and my Christmas present list now has 18 people on it. The pressure of buying for that amount of people has forced me to be organised.

Not only did I start my Christmas shopping early (so much less stress, I will hopefully remember that next year 😂) I also started testing Christmas Centre Piece Desserts in November too. I’ve made these Cheesecake Profiteroles using Paul Hollywood’s choux pastry recipe 4 times now and I think I’ve cracked it!

My top tip is to be super prepared before starting the choux pastry. I made sure I didn’t miss anything out during the quick process by having everything weighed and measured in separate bowls beforehand. To make this Cheesecake Profiteroles Centre Piece you will need, two baking trays, a medium and a small saucepan, wooden spoon, mixer/whisk, four piping bags and a 1/2cm round nozzle.

Ingredients

For choux pastry:

65 grams of plain flour, sifted

pinch of salt

50 grams of unsalted butter, diced

2 large eggs, beaten

120 ml of water

For cheesecake filling:

400 grams of soft/cream cheese, chilled

100 grams of icing sugar

1tsp of vanilla

100 grams of crème fraiche, chilled

300 ml of double cream, chilled

pink food colouring

For white chocolate ganache:

150 grams of white chocolate, finely chopped

75ml of double cream

pink food colouring

50 grams of white chocolate, melted – for decoration

Method

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 200C. With some extra butter grease two baking trays. Next sift the flour into a bowl and put to one side. Pour the water into a medium size pan with the salt and butter, heat on a low temperature until the butter has melted (don’t let it boil and begin to evaporate).

Step 2: Once the butter has completely melted, quickly bring the mixture to the boil & tip in all the flour. Remove the pan from the heat and beat vigorously with a wooden spoon until it makes a smooth heavy dough. (Try to avoid getting it all over the kitchen flour like a certain person 👀.)

Step 3: Put the pan back on a low heat and beat the dough for a minute with a wooden spoon. When it’s ready it should come away from the sides of the pan to make a smooth, glossy ball. Tip the dough into a large mixing bowl and leave until tepid (slightly warm but pretty much cold.)

Step 4: Beat the eggs in a separate bowl until combined, then gradually beat them into the dough with a wooden spoon, beating well after every little addition (you might not need all the egg.) The dough is ready when it’s very shiny, paste like and falls from a spoon when lightly shaken.

Step 5: Spoon the pastry into a piping bag with a 1/2cm circular nozzle or simply snip the end of the piping bag off and pipe 14-16 small buns on to the prepared greased trays. Then sprinkle the tray with a few drops of water (not the pastry) and bake in the oven for 15 mins. Then without opening the door drop the temperature to 170C and bake for a further 10 mins or until golden brown and crisp. Remove the tray from the oven make a small hole underneath each of the profiteroles and return to the oven for a further 5 mins. Remove from the oven and leave to cool on a wire rack.

Step 6: Once the profiteroles are completely cooled, place the soft cheese, icing sugar and vanilla into a mixer. Using a whisk attachment, mix on a low speed until completely combined. Add the pink food colouring (make it darker than the shade you want), mix again until the mixture is all pink. Then add the creme fraiche and double cream, whip until thick. Pop the mixture into a piping bag with the metal 1/2cm round nozzle. Pipe the mixture into each profiterole through the hole you made earlier.

Step 7: Make the ganache by finely chopping the white chocolate, then place it into a small bowl. Pour the cream into a small saucepan with a little bit of pink colouring, stirring occasionally, bring to the boil, as soon as it starts to boil remove it from the heat and pour over the white chocolate. Cover the bowl with a plate and leave for 5 mins. Then mix until all lumps of chocolate have melted. When the ganache is thick, pour it into a piping bag, and pipe it on top of the profiteroles. Melt left over white chocolate and drizzle on top. Stack straight away so they set into place.